Har Hard Rock Hallelujah blivit Brothers in Arms? Finlands avskräckning före jämfört med efter Nato

Sammanfattning

In a deteriorated security environment, with large scale war in Europe and larger states valuing their own interests higher than international stability, small states are in a vulnerable position where collective defence and deterrence are valuable tools. The research area of small state deterrence within alliances is however underexplored, and the limited research largely focuses on developing theoretical frameworks and proposing methods for small state deterrence rather than analysing how it is conducted in practice. This study conducts a qualitative, comparative, descriptive analysis by comparing Finland’s structuring of military deterrence before and after entering NATO in 2023. It thereby aims to address the research gap and provide small states with valuable insight as they navigate the modern-day security environment. The study finds that Finland before NATO relied heavily on its own capability of territorial defence and a large focus on deterrence by denial. Since entering NATO these are still core values in Finnish military deterrence, however they are now complemented with extended deterrence of equal importance.